A former two-star recruit has been pegged as Missouri’s next defensive line standout, only Charles Harris’ time in the spotlight is coming a year early.

Missouri coaches have been high on the redshirt sophomore for a while, even though they were late to offer the Kansas City native. Harris played behind what was likely the country’s best defensive end combo last year in Shane Ray and Markus Golden, but he still made an impact for the Tigers. Harris played in all 14 games and had four tackles for loss, two breakups and four hurries.

But Ray and Golden are gone now, drafted to the pros, as is 2014 revelation Harold Brantley, a defensive tackle who likely would have featured some as an end in new defensive coordinator Barry Odom’s system.

Between those three, Missouri is losing 29 1/2 sacks from last season, along with 22 quarterback hurries and six forced fumbles. Coupled with the loss of interior D-linemen Lucas Vincent and Matt Hoch, as well as the dismissal of Marcus Loud (14 tackles in 2014), Harris is taking on a fairly unprecedented void along Missouri’s defensive line.

At least when Michael Sam and Kony Ealy left after the 2013 season, Missouri had a rising senior in Golden and the speedy Ray, both of whom played frequently that year. Without Harris, Missouri would be returning virtually nothing from last year’s impressive defensive line.

“We look at Charles as our leader out there on the field because we don’t have Harold (Brantley) out there,” redshirt freshman Walter Brady told ABC 17 news. “Charles is pretty much the next up for us.”

Missouri coach Gary Pinkel describes Harris as having explosive speed potential, which projects more with what Ray was than Golden. He backed up the latter on the right side of Missouri’s defensive line last season (and ultimately filled in on the left for his only start when Golden was sidelined with a hamstring injury against Indiana). But Harris, who bulked up to 255 pounds during the offseason, will also have to take on more run stopping responsibilities.

In Missouri’s last scrimmage, Harris had two sacks for a loss of 11 yards. His other two tackles during the scrimmage were also tackles for loss, and MUTigers.com said he “showed a lot of speed on rushes off of the edge both in 1-on-1 and team drills, recording multiple sacks” during the team’s final fall camp practice. Harris was also used in a two-lineman third down set, along with LB Donavin Newsom, during the scrimmage. It doesn’t hurt that Harris often goes up against OT Connor McGovern, regarded as Missouri’s strongest player, during daily drills.

It may be coming sooner than expected, but Harris is now the next up among Missouri’s successful line of defensive ends. Tigers fans will hope the increased playing time and leadership role will work out just as Sam, Ealy, Golden and Ray did before him.